The Bub in the Belly

Christmas 2013 was a very, very quiet affair; the most low-key Christmas that we've had in a long time.

The first thing we did on Christmas morning was to check for evidence of Santa Claus. The children had set out biscuits and a drink for him before they went to bed and, in the morning, Ryan was excited to note that the food and beverage had been half-consumed.



In the two weeks leading up to Christmas, Ryan visited Santa Claus at T3 Changi Airport twice. The first time was when he was filming a commercial at the airport. After we wrapped, and had dinner, Ryan wanted to go to Singkids but, having already spent the whole day there, Richard and I weren't keen on spending another two hours at the airport plus we had to fetch babydoll from her nanny. So we brought him to the Spongebob Squarepants pineapple house. Next to that, was Santa's lodge. Ryan was pleased as punch to see Santa. Ryan called him "Mr Santa".


The second time Ryan met Santa Claus was when we met up with Brayden and his parents at T3 for dinner and play. In addition to the pineapple house and Santa's lodge, the boys jumped around in the gigantic Spongebob Squarepants Bouncy Castle. After that, all of us took a ride on the airport shuttle train. The boys had tons of fun, as always.


Anyway, back to Christmas morning. The next item on the agenda, after checking Santa's leftovers, was to check the Christmas stockings. Ryan was over the moon to find a pair of yo-yos in his stocking. He opened the packet up straightaway and spent the next half hour learning to play it.

The rest of the present-opening followed the same pattern. Ryan would open a present and excitedly insist on playing with it straightaway. Some of the gifts involved assembly, like a scooter from his nanny and an inflatable football goal, so, as you can imagine, we took forever to get through his presents. In fact, we didn't open all of them and some are still unopened even now.

We went to church after that and, for Ryan's benefit, we went to the contemporary service - he enjoyed dancing and singing along to the music and survived the entire service. Babydoll needed to walk about a bit so I took her for a short jaunt around the grounds during the sermon.

We spent the rest of the day at home. For dinner, we chose a quiet meal at Cafe Melba, where the staff were very taken with the two littles and spent most of the evening trying to catch their attention.

So, that was Christmas 2013. Quiet, mellow, and peaceful.